Time was cutting close at the end of the tour of the Vatican Museum. Our group of 48 people had been broken into three smaller groups to tour the lengthy halls containing the treasures of the Catholic Church in Vatican City.
When we realized we might miss the time to make the line to visit St. Peter’s Basilica, we took off walking as fast as we could.
It wasn’t a short walk either, and we didn’t make the line.
We sat on the sidewalk in view of the basilica and the long line snaking away from the entrance.
My friend, who wanted to see St. Peter’s more than anything else on this trip, broke down in tears.
She’d missed the one thing she looked forward to on the 10-day odyssey of a school trip through Greece and Italy.
I felt for her, but, at that moment, it became clear to me why this place is so important in the history of the Christian world.
If not for everything that led to the construction of the Vatican and Vatican City, Christianity would not be the world’s dominant religion.
Rome was the center of its own universe in those years around the beginning of the first millennium and the monuments left there are a testament to its grand position.
The Forum, the Colosseum and the Parthenon are all twice as big as you think they are.
By the time Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the empire, it encircled the Mediterranean Sea and stretched north into Britain and south into Africa.
All those areas funneled riches back to Rome and those riches built the foundation on which the wonders we see there today were constructed.
The art in the Vatican Museum might have more value than some countries’ gross domestic product.
This sentiment of the art and beauty of Rome was best encapsulated by one of our tour guides with one of the most prescient statements I’ve yet heard.
He’d asked Paul Dees where we’d been on our tour so far. Paul told him we’d just come from Greece.
The guide, in his heavily Italian-accented English, said, “The Greeks… All they invented was roads and armies. We’ve got Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, Raphael and arches. The Egyptians and the Greeks all built in straight lines and that’s why it’s all falling down.”
That is Italy’s wonder; it’s gorgeous.
When we landed at Ancona after a 21-hour ferry ride across the Ionian Sea, we got on a brand-new bus driven by the best-dressed driver in the business. He wore a scarf, a coordinated blazer, black driving gloves and well-fitting slacks.
We drove along the coast for a while before turning into the mountains toward Tuscany and our first overnight stay in Italy.
Along the way, we stopped at the finest gas station dining room outside of a Rick’s Express. It was a wonderful buffet of penne pasta, bread and wine.
When we pulled up to the night’s stop, we saw a villa mid-way up a small mountain in a glorious little town. There were at least three castles in view across the landscape.
We drove down the hills to Florence the next morning and began what was three days of sights so enormous, so grand, it’s hard to describe them.
We did a walking tour of Florence that morning and then were set loose on our own for a few hours in the afternoon.
Canon and I ate a wonderful lunch in a street-side restaurant. The guys with us ordered a Florentine Steak which is about 1.5 times as thick as a T-Bone for Two from Doe’s Eat Place.
We then joined up with a couple of other folks and got in line to tour the Duomo. It’s vast. I think two St. Joseph’s Catholic Churches could fit on top of each other under the dome.
We then walked to the Ponte Vecchio where we had another highlight moment on the trip. A Porsche GT3 RS rounded the corner as we walked away from the bridge. Canon, Luke and I exhorted the driver to rev his engine and he obliged. The roar of the flat-six echoed off the medieval walls.
We returned to our villa that night and crashed hard into bed after about 19,000 steps on the tour of Florence.
On the next morning, we rose early, boarded the bus and began our drive to Rome.
Rome is a lot.
Rome’s rush hour starts at 6 a.m. and ends at about 9 p.m. Everywhere is crushed by people.
The Colosseum was our first visit and though it’s 2,000 years old, it felt like it could be a modern stadium. The layout is similar to a football stadium in the SEC and is more beautiful.
From the Colosseum, we walked through the Forum. It was the beating heart of the Roman Empire and its grandiosity shows.
There’s not a capital like it in the world today.
We retreated from Rome to a beach-side hotel in Ladispoli. It was wonderful. The beaches are dark black volcanic ash and gave us the needed rest for the most challenging day of the trip.
Our guide from EF Tours primed us for the tour of the Vatican. “It’s hell,” he said.
There are so many people who want to be in the Vatican because of what it means to them and the world.
All those people are crammed into this place because of its wonder and its meaning.
And the meaning is real.
I’m not Catholic. I’m a protestant and should have an adverse reaction to the theatre of the Catholic Church.
But, on that day in Rome, when my fellow traveler cried her eyes out because she didn’t get the chance to see the beating heart of her faith, I understood the power it has.
Rome is powerful, eternal and wonderful, but I didn’t lose anything there and don’t need to go back.
Florence, on the other hand, I’d fly back there tomorrow.
Jon Alverson is proud to be the publisher and editor of the Delta Democrat-Times. Write to him at jalverson@ddtonline.com or call him at 662-335-1155.
